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Old 08-05-2012, 02:35 AM
 
1,108 posts, read 2,275,443 times
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Did you get to Capitol Hill or Belltown? Those are easily the two most urban neighborhoods in the city (albeit, very different from each other) and definitely work checking out. In Capitol Hill I'd check out the Cal Anderson Park area and the Pike/Pine corridor between Broadway and 12th. I'd also check out the North part of Broadway.

Also, I think you may have missed a good chunk of Ballard. There is a ton of stuff on Market Street, Ballard Ave, 24th Ave, as well as great neighborhood blocks throughout the area. It sounds like you may have ended up along 15th, which is the neighborhood's main car-oriented arterial, but not really representative of what the neighborhood is like. Ballard has a great concentration of bars, restaurants, shops, condos, apts - there's just a lot going on and a lot of cranes. In all honestly, I'd say Capitol Hill and Ballard are the two "hottest" neighborhoods in the city right now, for what that's worth.
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Old 08-05-2012, 03:14 AM
 
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lunarviolet, that is pretty much a spot on assessment of Seattle and nabes. I'm confident you will be happy with where you decide.

Areas you didn't mention that might be good candidates for you are Capital Hill and Greenlake - both in Tangletown and the area near Zeek's Pizza. Also, the Junction in West Seattle.
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Old 08-05-2012, 03:22 AM
 
4,858 posts, read 7,566,062 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit View Post

Mistakes I made...
moved next to a School so I could swim daily (before realizing schools did not have pools here... our town of 30k in Colorado had 3 indoor pools. town / metro of 300k in WA has ZERO)

I've lived in a few different states and I've never heard of school pools being open to the public. Kinda wish they were. I've thought about joining a health club just to swim laps a few times a week.
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Old 08-05-2012, 08:30 PM
 
20 posts, read 50,209 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orzo View Post
Did you get to Capitol Hill or Belltown? Those are easily the two most urban neighborhoods in the city (albeit, very different from each other) and definitely work checking out. In Capitol Hill I'd check out the Cal Anderson Park area and the Pike/Pine corridor between Broadway and 12th. I'd also check out the North part of Broadway.

Also, I think you may have missed a good chunk of Ballard. There is a ton of stuff on Market Street, Ballard Ave, 24th Ave, as well as great neighborhood blocks throughout the area. It sounds like you may have ended up along 15th, which is the neighborhood's main car-oriented arterial, but not really representative of what the neighborhood is like. Ballard has a great concentration of bars, restaurants, shops, condos, apts - there's just a lot going on and a lot of cranes. In all honestly, I'd say Capitol Hill and Ballard are the two "hottest" neighborhoods in the city right now, for what that's worth.

Thanks orzo -

I drove through some of Cap Hill, but I wasn't sure where to go since it's so large. Many people have told me that it's fun, but not very quiet. I figure it'll be a great place to go on a night out, but it's probably not my top choice to live in. In Belltown I mostly saw 3rd street where the bus went through and few cool looking bars. It looked like lots of condos and live/work spaces. I'm happier living in a greener, less urban neighborhood, but I'd like to check out some of those bars.

For Ballard, I was on Market which was the cute part I mentioned. I think I missed Ballard Ave. I took 24th north (I think) and that was just ok. As I went north there were a lot of older apartments w/out much character. It also felt sunnier and less green there... and I'm trying to escape the sun


Quote:
Originally Posted by mikester007 View Post
lunarviolet, that is pretty much a spot on assessment of Seattle and nabes. I'm confident you will be happy with where you decide.

Areas you didn't mention that might be good candidates for you are Capital Hill and Greenlake - both in Tangletown and the area near Zeek's Pizza. Also, the Junction in West Seattle.

Thanks mikester007-

I mentioned Cap Hill above. Greenlake was cute. I got it mixed with Greenwood a bit, but now that I'm looking at the borders, I liked Greenlake, and it was Greenwood/Phinney that was just ok near Green Lake. I saw a few streets in Phinney farther west that were very cute.
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Old 08-06-2012, 06:41 PM
 
579 posts, read 1,205,930 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orzo View Post
Did you get to Capitol Hill or Belltown? Those are easily the two most urban neighborhoods in the city (albeit, very different from each other) and definitely work checking out. In Capitol Hill I'd check out the Cal Anderson Park area and the Pike/Pine corridor between Broadway and 12th. I'd also check out the North part of Broadway.

Also, I think you may have missed a good chunk of Ballard. There is a ton of stuff on Market Street, Ballard Ave, 24th Ave, as well as great neighborhood blocks throughout the area. It sounds like you may have ended up along 15th, which is the neighborhood's main car-oriented arterial, but not really representative of what the neighborhood is like. Ballard has a great concentration of bars, restaurants, shops, condos, apts - there's just a lot going on and a lot of cranes. In all honestly, I'd say Capitol Hill and Ballard are the two "hottest" neighborhoods in the city right now, for what that's worth.
I agree. I don't think Ballard is anything like CA (the OP mentioned this) and if you are just driving up 15th avenue that is really the main road that splits the western portion of Ballard from eastern Ballard/Phinney. Lots of businesses and nothing indicative of what the neighborhoods are like. Portions of Ballard (Sunset Hill, Loyal Heights, Olympic Manor) are mostly single family homes, and even in the heart of Ballard the complexes tend to be facing the main trafficked streets or the corners thereof (15th, 24th, 65th, etc........) I also agree that most people think Market street is "THE main drag" and forget about Old Ballard and all the intersecting side streets. It's like basing my whole opinion of Magnolia by driving down McGraw.
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Old 08-06-2012, 06:57 PM
 
579 posts, read 1,205,930 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lunarviolet View Post
I hope to move to Seattle next spring. I'm from Colorado and have lived all over the country. I've appreciated reading all the information on this site and since I just visited Seattle for the first time, I thought I'd post my opinions too. Sorry it's so long, but I like seeing everyone's different opinions, so hopefully mine will be helpful too.

Pioneer Square - Several people recommended this area. It was one of the first places in the city I went to and it was a little overwhelming. The old brick shops are cute, but there are a lot of street people (homeless looking or whatever pc appropriate term you like). There was a parking lot with around 50 just hanging around, maybe waiting for the mission to open and more walking around. Thinking that this was one of the better neighborhoods, it made me nervous about what the rest of the city would hold. There were many middle to upper class people walking around there though, so I think it's probably pretty safe, it's just not what I was expecting.

The Waterfront - This was a fun tourist spot I found after Pioneer Sq. The views of the water and islands are beautiful. It has a traditional boardwalk feel with some cute shops, fish and chips, ice cream shops, the ferris wheel, etc.

Queen Anne - Beautiful homes. It looks similar to the Berkley Hills. Cute shopping/restaurant area. It was definitely a higher end area, but it didn't feel snooty and self important like rich areas of San Diego. People seemed laid back and relaxed. The Thai Kitchen was delicious!

Fremont - Cute, artsy, hippie, with a vibe that felt friendly to 20 & 30 somethings and for families. Nice shopping/restaurants and cute homes. Troll Bridge, statue of Lenin, naked Solstice Festival

Wallingford - The area on 45th near Hwy 5 was a little sketchy, but once you go more west there's a cute core with shops, food, bars, and the surrounding neighborhoods are beautiful.

Columbia City - Many people on this forum talked this neighborhood up, but I wasn't very comfortable there. I drove down the main strip and it looked like there might be some nice hole in the wall finds, but not anywhere that I would want to spend much time. North of that strip was kind of run down and sketchy and people there seemed a little more sad or down and out. There were some cute homes around the shopping area though.

Whidbey Island - I was considering moving to one of the islands because I like being in nature and cities overwhelm me a bit. The ferry ride was pretty, chilly, and quick. Langely and Coupeville were beautiful and small. A few streets of shops and restaurants. I'm more liberal, so Oak Harbor with the military vibe wasn't a big draw for me. It seems like a nice town for a military base though. Overall, the island seems like a nice quiet place to go for a BnB weekend or for retirement, but it's pretty sleepy otherwise. The main roads through out felt like drive through Massachusetts with bushier trees.... you can't really see what's around you because there are so many tall trees.

University area - The little part of the University District I was was just okay... not bad, but not great. The actual campus area was beautiful and the University Village looked upscale and new though a bit commercial/yuppy feeling compared to the rest of Seattle.

Bothell - Main street looked like an old folks home. Farther into the hills it looked pretty and lush with what looked like many business campuses that people might commute too.

West Seattle - California Avenue to Alki Beach felt very much like a SoCal beach town. It seemed safe and tucked away. Lincoln Park was a beautiful walk down to a beach and a community pool right on the coast line.

Kirkland - Looked like a upscale area to raise a family. More yuppy/conservative looking folks than in Seattle.

Ballard - Old Ballard was cute. The rest of Ballard was just ok, but I'm not sure I saw all the cute parts. It looked a bit more like Southern Cali to me.

Lake Forest Park - I was thinking this might be a nice community to be close to the city but tucked away. The neighborhoods look nice for raising a family, but there is really only a run of the mill shopping center there. Too boring looking for me after seeing the other communities. (I'm 31 and single)

Pike Market was great. I would definitely recommend taking an edible tour of it. Learning about the history and passion behind the market made it all the better.

The Salmon Ladder at the Ballard Locks was fun to see. There is an underwater viewing room where you can watch them swim and it was peaceful and interesting. Cool to see the boats going through the locks too.

Restaurants around the city were a lot more expensive than I'm used to in suburban Colorado, but the grocery prices were about the same. It was nice that most restaurants have local and organic ingredients.

I was only there for 5 days, but I tried to cram in as many places as I could to get a feel for each area. The buses were very easy to get around on. Traffic was interesting... sometimes I would get stuck at a small residential intersection for an eternity, but the hiway traffic didn't seem that bad after living in Boston, Austin, and San Diego.

I'm a liberal/greenish, 30 y/o who is looking for a safe, pretty, quiet neighborhood with things to do. The top fits for me are Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, but there are several other areas in Seattle proper that feel comfortable and everything seems close by and reasonably easy to get to.

That's my take on the area. I hope that helps someone.
I was a little thrown by this. My husband is from Southern CA. When I think of southern CA I think of housing tracts with pink Spanish tile roofs, palm trees, strip malls etc........The housing in Ballard is IDENTICAL to that of Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, Queen Ann and everywhere else in Seattle. I live in an early 1900 Tudor, there are lots of bungalows, Craftsman etc.......most dating to about 1900-1940......Olympic Manor and north of that have a lot of mid-century and 1950s and later. Ballard isn't as hilly as Magnolia, or Queen Ann, but it isn't a flat valley, it's still a hill. Aside from busy 15th avenue, most streets are flanked with pretty little houses, beautiful gardens and round-abouts at every corner. I'm wondering if you were actually in Ballard, or just drove up 15th? Ballard stretches from the ship canal to 85th (some say more north) and from Puget Sound to 8th........that's an awful lot of distance. If you cross Ballard bridge and then only see the industrial areas like where the Fred Meyer and Postal annex are or just the business of 15th, I can see why you'd not like it
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Old 08-06-2012, 08:00 PM
 
Location: NYC
7,305 posts, read 13,442,540 times
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Think you may have made a mistake by driving everywhere as opposed to walking and using the bus/train. You can only get so much from a zipping car.

For example, if I had just driven through ft Collins it would have seemed like any other place... But when I spent some time walking around, I really got a feel for it (and liked it!)
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Old 08-06-2012, 09:14 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC/ West Palm Beach, FL
1,061 posts, read 2,240,380 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown View Post
Think you may have made a mistake by driving everywhere as opposed to walking and using the bus/train. You can only get so much from a zipping car.

For example, if I had just driven through ft Collins it would have seemed like any other place... But when I spent some time walking around, I really got a feel for it (and liked it!)
That is so true! One may cover more areas driving, but actually walking around in the neighborhoods you actually get a much better feel for the area and the people.
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Old 08-06-2012, 10:47 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,063 posts, read 106,896,974 times
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I can't imagine anyone posting good things about Columbia City. And the U District is overpriced and sadly, has become a high crime, high homeless area. Queen Anne is good, but a bit cut off from the rest of the city. Some of the neighborhoods around Green Lake are nice, take a look at that. Green Lake is great for swimming, skating, biking, walking. For affordable housing in a quiet, safe, beautiful neighborhood, try Pinehurst, east of NorthGate Mall, just off of 15th Ave. NE. Lots of cedar trees, good location, smaller homes good for singles, with nice yards. I had my own private cedar forest in my backyard there.

The salmon ladder was peaceful only because you caught it on the off-season. Visit when the salmon are returning to spawn, and you'll have a radically different and very exciting experience.

I've heard Ballard isn't what it used to be. Crime is growing there, and housing has gotten more expensive. Living on one of the islands can be tricky. During storms, the ferries don't run, you can get stuck. Also, the ferry fares have jumped astronomically, adding to the cost of living. Parts of West Seattle are nice, but they've had severe flooding in some areas the last few years. And it's another neighborhood, like Queen Anne, that's a little isolated from the rest of the city. I think there's only one bridge connecting it to the city (?), and it can get clogged with traffic during commute hours.

Check out Laurelhurst, east of the University. Expensive, but very nice area.
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Old 08-07-2012, 12:27 AM
 
Location: Wallace, Idaho
3,353 posts, read 6,640,903 times
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Your observations are pretty accurate, lunarviolet. I live in Renton, one of the south suburbs, but Fremont is probably my favorite Seattle neighborhood. Based on what you say you're looking for, I think it would be a good fit for you. Good luck!
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